The present invention relates in general to the field of wheel suspensions, and more particularly to a sheet-metal control arm for a wheel suspension.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
The design of a control arm for a wheel suspension of a motor vehicle has to reconcile various objectives. On one hand, thin-walled components should be used for the control arm to realize a lightweight construction. On the other hand, the control arm should be constructed strong enough to ensure adequate load-bearing capability. Moreover, when installed, a control arm has to withstand various stress exposures during operation of the motor vehicle, with some parts of the control arm being exposed to greater stress than other parts thereof. There are many ways to manufacture control arms.
Transverse arms in particular of a wheel suspension of a motor vehicle are among those components that are exposed to stress the most. Transverse arms are provided to receive the wheels and to guide them. In other words, a transverse arm provides the movable connection of the body of a motor vehicle with the wheel. Transverse arms may be configured as cast part. Furthermore, transverse arms may be formed as hollow sheet-metal construction from compressed, especially welded, metal sheets.
Sheet-metal control arms have a base body and at their ends eyelets in which chassis bearings are pressed in. Chassis bearings may either be directly pressed into the eyelets of the sheet-metal control arms or pressed into welded-in sleeves in the eyelets. A conventional sheet-metal control arm of this type for a wheel suspension of a motor vehicle is illustrated in FIG. 1 and generally designated by reference numeral 1. The sheet-metal control arm 1 has a base body 2 and two eyelets 4, 14 arranged in spaced-apart relationship at one end of the base body 2. The eyelets 4, 14 have openings 7, 17 for receiving a chassis bearing, in particular a rubber-metal bearing or elastomer-metal bearing. Each eyelet 4, 14 has a wall 5, 15, with the walls 5, 15 of the eyelets 4, 14 confronting one another. A gap 8 is formed between the walls 5, 15 of the eyelets 4, 14, especially the end faces of the walls 5, 15, as a result of restrictions during the deep-drawing process for making the walls 5, 15.
A sheet-metal control arm 1 of this type has shortcomings because the neighboring eyelets 4, 14 have no connection with one another at the one end of the sheet-metal control arm 1. As a result, the interference fit of a chassis bearing is difficult to adjust and the eyelets 4, 14 may slip in the event of overload. The eyelets 4, 14 which are arranged at a distance to one another may not be configured wider because this would require excessive degree of shaping during production of the sheet-metal control arm 1.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved sheet-metal control arm to obviate prior art shortcomings and to ensure a lasting shape stability while yet being producible with eyelets in a simple manner and preventing slippage of the eyelets.